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Being Irish has always been a source of pride for its people, and with the Irish diaspora estimated at 70 million people worldwide (more than 13 times the population of the country itself), many are happy to boast at least a drop of Celtic blood running through their veins.

Even so diverse a group as Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, Che Guevara, Georgia O’Keefe, Jean Charest, Jimi Hendrix, Lucille Ball, Mariah Carey and Johnny Rotten all have one thing in common – an Irish ancestor.

The Canadian 2006 census shows that Irish is the fourth largest ethnic group in Canada — about 14 per cent of the total population or 4.4 million people. Newfoundland and the Maritimes have the largest concentration of Irish but Ontario and Quebec (particularly Montreal) are also home to large Irish communities. While there were some Irish who came to Canada earlier, the vast majority arrived before, during and shortly after the Great Famine of 1845-1849.

Tracing your Irish ancestry, once a lengthy and difficult process, has never been easier than it is today. In anticipation of The Gathering 2013, a yearlong event promoted across the island by Tourism Ireland, genealogy centres around the country have been putting their records online to help people find their Celtic roots.

The Gathering 2013 is intended to invite everyone of Irish origins back home. In that spirit, Sabrina Joyce-Kemper and Christine Joyce, both great grandnieces of the Irish writer James Joyce, have also started Irishgathering2013.com to help people trace their ancestry. Their advice to anyone beginning the search is to start by talking to relatives.

“Start with your parents and work back from there. Listen to their stories and memories. They’ll remember a family event that occurred at the same time as an historical event and that will give you some dates to work with,” said Joyce-Kemper.

“Take notes so you have all the information in writing. If they were able to give you a first name but not a surname for an ancestor keep that name. For example Great Aunt Rose: If that first name pops up again in your research around those dates as a Rosemary Murphy you’ll recognize it and piece the puzzle together.”

For common names such as Murphy, Kelly and Smith, having a middle name is crucial. In addition to an ancestor’s full name, any additional information such as an approximate birth dates, country, parish, occupation, date of marriage, religious denomination and social status is going to help narrow the search. Family papers and photographs can be the foundation to build your research and start the hunt.

Once you’ve determined where your ancestor lived, the next step is to find public documents. Ireland has 1.3-million church records available online that include birth, marriage or death certificates. Other potential sources of information are wills, land deeds, newspaper obituaries, local histories, pension and military records. Another important research tool are the 1901 and 1911 census records, also online. Many of these records can be found in the National Archives of Ireland or at a county genealogy centre. The best record keepers in Ireland were the landed gentry, usually of Anglo-Irish origin. It was important to know your family roots not only for social status but also for future land claims and the settling of estates.

If you suspect there were some scoundrels in the family, visit the Irish police records made available online by the Church of Ireland. These records includes the earliest surviving register of baptisms, marriages and burials, dating from 1619, and an older vestry minute book commencing in 1595.

Joyce-Kemper recommends searching databases with several different spellings of your surname. “Records were handwritten and sometimes the names were deciphered incorrectly when computerizing records,” said Joyce-Kemper. “If you have a family history connected to industrial schools, workhouses or adoption, that can complicate things, since they often changed names if they had the mother’s name or made up new ones when they did not.”

if you reach a dead end, it’s time to call in the professionals. Ireland has many skilled genealogists who are passionate about helping people find long-lost relatives.

“People can do a great deal of research on the Internet but it is important to go step-by-step, generation to generation. Making leaps back will always result in mistakes. Getting advice from experienced researchers always helps. I recommend people seek out groups interested in Irish research such as TIARA — The Irish Ancestral Research Association — for help,” said Eileen M O Duill, a professional Irish genealogist of Heirs Ireland, specializing in forensic genealogy.

You can also search Canadian records. Collections Canada houses immigration records, including those from the Grosse Isle immigration depot. Sadly, these are often death records; over 5,000 Irish emigrants died of typhus at this site. The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 has ship profiles and immigration records. Irish emigrants may have first landed in New York at Ellis Island before making their way to Canada so try a search of that location’s website.

Any research project takes time. So be patient. And be prepared for some surprises along the way. Joyce-Kemper is from a well-documented family but there were still some things to be uncovered about her family.

“My own father was still able to do some research and discovered we were related to Captain Bligh as well as to Richard Joyce, who created the Claddagh ring. That was very exciting for us,” said Joyce-Kemper. “I always advise people to enjoy each stage and have fun. You don’t know where it’s going to lead or what you will find. That’s what makes it so fascinating.”

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